Chapter 2: Captain of the Lost Country

Chapter 2: The Captain of the Lost Country
This wasn’t the first time Zhou Ming had walked through this door to the “opposite side”.

Ever since a few days ago, when Zhou Ming woke up and found himself trapped in his room by some kind of “vision”, with a strange fog obscuring the entire world, he had discovered this strange place “opposite” the gate.

After all, that door was now the only exit from his “room”.

He still remembers his bewilderment and helplessness when he first pushed open the door and saw the deck outside, and even more so, he remembers his shock and panic when he first looked down and saw that he had changed his body, but after that, in order to seek a chance to break out of his predicament, he had already boldly explored this side of the room a few times successfully, and now, although he still hasn’t figured out what has happened to him, he still doesn’t know what has happened to him. Now, although he still hadn’t figured out what had happened to him, or what was the situation of this strange ship that had appeared outside his room, at least he had gained some experience, and had some preliminary understanding of the ship.

Like the previous times, Zhou Ming used the shortest possible time to force himself to get rid of the dizziness brought about by passing through the door, and then he took the first opportunity to confirm the situation of this body, checking the short gun in his hand, comparing all the details from memory, and finally confirming that the items he was carrying were the same as when he left the deck last time.

“…… It looks like the body ‘seamlessly switches’ every time I go through this door… …… It would be nice to have a camera placed on this side of the deck. Then it would be possible to confirm if this body changes when you push open the captain’s cabin door to return to your apartment room ……

“Unfortunately, items from both ‘worlds’ can’t get through the door, and there’s no way to bring the camera over ……

“But the cell phone placed in the apartment did record the scene when I went through the gate from there earlier, and I did walk through the black fog myself …… So it is true that the body ‘changed’ into this form when it went through the black fog ?”

Zhou Ming muttered, he knew that the way he stood on the deck talking to himself might be a bit funny in the eyes of outsiders, but he had to make some noise, in this empty and deserted spooky ghost ship …… he needed a bit of evidence to prove that he was “alive”. He needed a little proof that he was “alive”.

A gust of salty sea breeze blew across the deck, ruffling the black and blue captain’s uniform of unknown material on his body, Zhou Ming sighed softly, but he didn’t walk in the direction of the deck, instead he turned around and looked at the door behind him.

He placed his hand on the door handle.

Turning the handle, after which, as soon as he pushed the door inwards, he would see a thick gray-black fog, and through it, he would return to his single apartment that he had lived in for many years.

With force in his hand, he pulled the door outward in one motion.

The slightly heavy oak door creaked, and inside was a slightly dimly lit cabin, with a beautiful tapestry hanging on the walls, shelves with many decorative items, a large nautical table in the center of the room, and a small door in the deepest part of the room, with a burgundy carpet in front of it.

Push the door open and you’ll return to your bachelor pad, pull it open and you’ll find the captain’s cabin – the latter apparently being the “normal facility” on this ship.

Zhou Ming stepped into the captain’s room, and as he passed the doorway, he habitually looked to his left – a one-person-high mirror was fixed to the wall next to him, and in the mirror, the current appearance of “Zhou Ming” was clearly reflected.

It was a tall man, with thick black hair, a short majestic beard, deep-set eye sockets, and a seemingly imperious aura based on his appearance alone. He looked as if he was already over forty years old, but his heroic appearance and extremely oppressive eyes seemed to blur this sense of age, while the well-made captain’s uniform further indicated the special status of the man in the mirror.

Zhou Ming moved his neck and made a face at the mirror again – he felt that he was an easy-going and friendly person, and the image in the mirror just didn’t fit his temperament very well, but he soon gave up on this attempt because he felt that instead of appearing friendlier, the person in the mirror became more of a psychopathic serial killer, instead of looking like a dignified captain. Like a psychopathic serial killer. ……

And while Zhou Ming was making these movements, a slight clicking sound came from the direction of the nautical table, and without any surprise, he looked in the direction where the sound came from, and saw that a wooden goat head statue placed on that table was turning its face towards itself a little bit – the inanimate block of wood seemed to have come to life at this moment, and the pairs of obsidian inlays on the wooden face had become a little bit more than a pair. obsidian eyes set in the wooden face gazing ghostly this way.

The memories of the panic he felt the first time he saw this bizarre scene flashed through his mind, but Zhou Ming only quirked the corners of his mouth a little, as he stepped towards the nautical table, and the wooden goat head on the table turned its neck a little bit with it, and a hoarse and gloomy voice came out from its wooden cavity, “Name?”

“Duncan,” Zhou Ming spoke calmly, “Duncan Abnomar.”

The voice of that wooden goat head instantly changed from hoarse and gloomy to warm and friendly, “Good morning, Sir Captain, I’m glad to see that you still remember your name – how are you feeling today? How is your health today? Did you sleep well last night? I hope you had good dreams. Besides it’s a good day to set sail, the sea is calm, the wind is favorable, it’s cool and comfortable, and there’s no annoying navy or raucous crew, Sir Captain, you know a raucous crew ……”

“You’re already noisy enough,” even though it wasn’t the first time he had dealt with this creepy goathead, Zhou Ming still felt a shiver run through his brain at the moment, and he glared at the guy almost viciously, his voice squeezing out from between his teeth, “Quiet.”

“Oh, oh, oh of course, Captain, you do like quiet, and your loyal First Mate cum Second Mate cum Bosun cum Sailor cum Lookout knows that very well. Keeping quiet has many benefits, there was once a …… in the field of medicine or perhaps philosophy or architecture ……”

Zhou Ming now felt that not only was his brain trembling, but even his bronchial tubes began to shake along with him, “I mean, the order is to keep quiet!” As soon as the word “order” was uttered, the goat head finally quieted down.

Zhou Ming, on the other hand, let out a slight sigh of relief and stepped to the navigation table to sit down – now, he was the “captain” of this empty ghost ship.

Duncan Abnormale, an unfamiliar name, an awkward surname.

He knew this in his head the moment he first stepped through the black and gray mist and onto the ship. He knew that his body on “this side” was named Duncan, that he was the master of the ship, that the ship was sailing on a longer journey than he could have ever imagined – he knew this, but only just. -He knew that, but that was all he knew.

The memory that survived in his mind was so vague and thin that it consisted only of those crucial passages mentioned above, and beyond that the details were completely blank, as if he knew that the ship had a stupendous voyage planned, but had no idea at all of exactly where it was sailing, and that the ship’s original owner-the one who was really ” Duncan Ebnomar,” seemed to have died a long, long time ago.

The things that remained in Zhou Ming’s mind were more like the strongest and deepest “impressions” of a ghost captain that remained in the world after his complete death.

Instinct told Zhou Ming that there was a big problem behind the identity of this “Captain Duncan”, especially when there was a supernatural phenomenon on this ship (the talking wooden goat’s head), the mystery of this Captain Duncan could even mean some kind of danger that he had never imagined, but he had to carry this name in order to move around safely on this ship. Activity.

Because, like the wooden goat head, something on this ship is trying to identify the “captain” at any moment.

Even the ship itself is always trying to identify the captain.

This gives the impression of some kind of insurance measure, as if the captain of the ship could really forget his own name at any time, and if he forgets his own name, some kind of extremely horrible and dangerous thing will happen, and that’s why “checking means” are set up everywhere on the ship.

Zhou Ming didn’t know what the consequences of Captain Duncan forgetting his name would be, but he believed that there would be no good consequences if he said his name wrong.

After all, even the wooden goat’s head on the sailing table didn’t look like a good person.

But if one bore the name Duncan Ebnomar, then everything on this ship was kinda amiable.

They didn’t look like they were very intelligent anyway.

Zhou Ming – or perhaps he should be called Duncan, Duncan ended his brief period of contemplation and reminiscence, and then looked over at the chart spread out on the table.

However, there were no recognizable routes, markings or land on the chart, not even an island could be seen, the rough and thick surface of the parchment could only see a large, large, grayish-white mass that was constantly rolling and undulating, and those grayish-white, fog-like things seemed to obscure the routes that existed on the surface of the paper, and the only thing that could be seen in the center of the chart was the silhouette of a ship that was looming in the thick fog. The only thing you can see in the center of the chart is a silhouette of a ship looming in the fog.

Duncan (Zhou Ming) in the past few decades of his life did not have much experience in sailing, but even those who do not recognize the charts, surely know that the “normal” charts do not look like this.

Obviously, like the wooden goat’s head on the table, this chart is also some kind of supernatural object – only Duncan has not yet summarized the rules of its use.

Seems to notice that the captain’s attention is finally placed on the chart, the table has been quiet for a long time the goat’s head finally have movement again, it began to make a click click click wood friction sound, neck also small range of twisting to and fro, at first also twisted a relatively restrained, but very soon that the click click click click movement to the extent that it can not be ignored – finally! This bastard’s whole head is like turning on the vibration mode began to ghost up on the base.

Duncan, fearing that the bastard would drill wood into his sailing table if he continued to pump, finally couldn’t help but give it a look, “Speak.”

“Yes Sir Captain – I’d like to emphasize again that today is a great day to set sail, and as always the Lost Country awaits your orders! Shall we hoist the sails?”

(end of chapter)